


Storyswap: Showtime!

by Paulgrobe



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Storyswap (Undertale), Female Chara (Undertale), Gen, Narrator Chara (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23128624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paulgrobe/pseuds/Paulgrobe
Kudos: 5





	1. Curiosity (almost) killed the kid

Isaac woke up in a puddle of water. Odd. After all, when they were inspecting the hole they later fell in after he tripped while researching a rare mountain flower, he calculated there was a 0% chance a drop could be survived. Yet somehow, he lived. If he was religious (and weren't lying in a wet (although that's obvious, it's water after all), cold and very smelly puddle of water) he would've thought he was in heaven, but he only believed in science, and there was no room for a heaven, hell, god, or anything of the likes.  
He stood up and looked around. Trash heaps surrounded him on all sides, explaining the smell. On one of the heaps lied something that seemed like a blanket. He could use something warm, so he decided to put it on. However, when he tried to grab it, his hand phased right through it, and it started moving and talking?!  
"oh… sorry… am i disappointing you?..." The blanket? rolled around, revealing a pair of sad eyes. Apparently it was a living organism, one he never had seen anywhere. But it reminded him of one of these old video games he studied for his essay on the origin of video games. Was it called Hack Man or something? He recalled it had something to do with ghosts.  
"Are you a ghost, perhaps?", they asked. The what-was-apparently-a-ghost nodded. Apparently the 0.0000001% chance ghosts were real they calculated was actually the case. "Interesting." He asked the ghost what their name was and what they were doing.  
"me… i'm napstablook… and i'm feeling like trash, like always… as well as searching for my cousin hapstablook… but i can't even properly do that…" He started to cry. Isaac tried to comfort him.  
"Hey, i'm sure you're trying your absolute best to find him. Hey, maybe i could help you. What does he look like? Oh, i'm Isaac, by the way." Napstablook seemed to cheer up.  
"oh… you really want to do that for me?... thanks… and hapsta looks like me, but with a little hair frail in front of his eye…" Napstablook floated up. "do you mind if i give you information about things when we see them?... after all, i don't think you know much about the underground, or monsters… though i could be mistaken… oh, i probably am… i'm sorry…" Isaac tried to cheer him up again.  
"No, don't be. I don't know about monsters indeed. I actually did not even believe they existed until now. And there is never a bad time to learn something!" He noticed an opening between the trash heaps and went through it. Napstablook followed him. At the other side they found…  
Even more trash heaps, ending at some kind of barred fence. There was a gate, but a big metallic box was stuck in it and blocking the way. And climbing over the fence didn't seem possible. His eyes suddenly noticed a device with a big red button, with "DO NOT PUSH" on it. But it is a law of nature that if a button is big, red or has a warning not to push it on it, and especially if all 3 things are combined, someone will attempt to push it. And you can't argue with laws of nature, so he did. The box suddenly started to shake, and 2 arms grew and a wheel came out of it, after which it freed itself from the gate. They heard a metallic voice.  
"MY BODY... IS IT... WORKING? AHAHAH! I NEVER EXPECTED TO EVER BE ABLE TO MOVE AGAIN! BUT HOW?..." He suddenly turned around and saw Isaac.  
"OH! DARLING, ARE YOU PERHAPS THE ONE WHO ACTIVATED ME?" Isaac nodded. The robot laughed.  
"THANKS A LOT FOR THAT DARLING, I, METTATON, OWE Y-" He stopped talking, and took a closer look at Isaac.  
"WAIT... DO MY EYES DECEIVE ME? NO, THEY DO NOT! IT'S REALLY A HUMAN!" He started to laugh maniacally, and Napstablook hid behind Isaac in fear. Isaac didn't know what was going on, but they did not like it.  
"FROM ANYONE WHO COULD REACTIVATE ME, IT HAD TO BE A HUMAN! HOW FORTUNATE… MY APOLOGIES HUMAN, BUT... YOU NEED TO DIE. YOU SEE, WITH YOUR SOUL I CAN TAKE REVENGE ON THAT BONEHEAD WHO TRAPPED ME IN AN INACTIVE BODY FOR 10 WHOLE YEARS. SORRY, IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL, DARLING, BUT THE SHOW MUST GO ON…" Mettaton's hand suddenly turned into some kind of laser gun he pointed at Isaac. He saw it heating up right in front of his eyes. He shaked. So apparently this was how he was going to die... One thing was for sure, he had not expected it…


	2. A King and a Hero

Isaac closed his eyes for the blinding red light, waiting for the end…  
But it didn't come. He heard the sound of a laser blast, but there was no pain. Not the feeling of their skin burning away or them disintegrating into atoms, nothing. They opened their eyes, to see Mettaton facing away from them. A white glow came from behind them. They heard a voice that made shivers go down their spine.  
"Get out. And leave the kid alone. Or else i'll use more than 10% of this blaster's power. Understood?" Mettaton did something they interpreted as nodding, after which the glow disappeared, and he flew off. The person behind them was a surprisingly short and (somehow) chubby skeleton. Above him flew some kind of skull shaped object. The skeleton grinned.  
"luckily he fell for it. i wasn't actually using only 10% of my power ya know." Isaac was surprised. This was nothing like the menacing voice they heard when they were talking to Mettaton. "i hope he didn't hurt ya?"  
"N-no, i'm fine." Isaac responded. "But who are you?" The skeleton did not change expression or even open his mouth while talking.  
"the name is sans. king comic sans skeleton the first to be exact, but i never was into those long royal titles." Isaac was confused. The skeleton did not look like a king at all, besides his "cloak", which was made of a bedsheet. For the rest he wore a pair of pink slippers, some shorts and a blue jacket covering a T-shirt with some winged symbol on it.  
"I-i'm Isaac. N-nice to meet you, your highness." Sans started laughing.  
"please kid, your highness was my dad. it's just sans. sans the skeleton. but anyways, i think it's time we should go to my "castle". after all, spending the day at a garbage dumb doesn't sound like a good activity for a kid." Isaac started to follow him, but then realized he had lost Napstablook. He shouted his name, and his eyes rose up from behind a pile of garbage. Seems like he decided to hide from that crazy killer robot.  
"is he gone... i'm sorry i abandoned you like that… you're angry now, aren't you… i'm a worthless piece of garbage, i know… i should just stay here, where i belong..." Isaac told him he wasn't angry at them, and it seemed to cheer him up a little bit. Sans was still standing in the gate opening.  
"so, are ya gonna follow me or are ya going to try to navigate through the city by yourself? cause both are fine by me." Isaac decided to follow the skeleton.  
At the other side of the gate lied a dark, run-down city. Apartment flats reached all the way to the ceiling, and garbage littered the streets. Sans started talking.  
"welcome to semi city, once our great capital, now a paradise for garbage lovers. mind the trash, else you'll be ignoring the whole city. it's one big garbage maze. come, follow me, i'll bring ya to someone who can help with showing how things work down here." Sans led them to a pizzeria that, while run-down like everyone else, seemed to still operate to some extent. On the faded sign Isaac could barely read "ICE-E".  
Inside, Sans started shouting. "hey, blue guy! i got some apprentices for ya!" A monster in some kind of blue mascot costume came in.  
"So someone on an EPIC QUEST is finally seeking advice from THE WARRIOR?! Is your BLOOD BOILING for BATTLE?! Seek no further! So, what is your QUEST, HEROES?!" Isaac was confused. Was this guy supposed to teach them things? Yet for some reason, they heard themselves telling this weird person why they were here, about how they wanted to get back to the surface and how they were searching Napstablook's cousin. The Warrior laughed.  
"So you're trying to escape from the DEPTHS OF EBOTT while saving someone from… Well i don't know, something... Well, then look no further, as i, THE WARRIOR, will make you a HERO before you know it!" He went back into the room he originally came from. Isaac had no idea what he was getting himself into, but followed him anyways.


	3. Looming Danger

The room The Warrior led them into was as run down as everything else Isaac had seen so far. It was completely empty, aside from an old dummy standing in the center. The Warrior pointed at the dummy.  
"This here is your first ENEMY. You'll have to FIGHT to win this BATTLE! Now, step forward!" When Isaac did, his surroundings turned black. "Now, draw your WEAPON!", The Warrior told them. Isaac told him he didn't have one, to his surprise.  
"So you're on a QUEST without a WEAPON?! Then you're either extremely brave or extremely foolish! But wait, i see you have a BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE!" He pointed at Isaacs notebook. "Until you find a WEAPON, you'll have to use this!"  
Isaac grabbed his notebooks, and flung it towards the dummy, as The Warrior told him to. However, he only barely hit the dummy. The Warrior shook his head.  
"Are you trying to tickle the ENEMY?! Try again!" In the corner, Sans coughed.  
"maybe the kid doesn't want to end fights violently. gaining love rather than LOVE, if that makes sense. besides, it's better for us all if he doesn't kill anyone. so perhaps i should teach him about ACTing." The Warrior laughed.  
"Do you really think they can complete their QUEST without FIGHTing?! Well then, go ahead, i'd like to see!" Sans told Isaac to talk to the dummy. Isaac could not think of any topic that wasn't extremely boring to most people however, and stayed silent. The dummy did (obviously) not respond. Sans sighed.  
"not the talkative type huh? hope you'll figure something out. after all, we don't want anyone get killed here." The Warrior laughed again, even harder than the last time.  
"I told you it wouldn't work! Now, we have a TRAINING to go through! Try to FIGHT your ENEMY again, and good this time! Unless you want to die out there!" Isaac approached the dummy again, however, before Isaac could lift his notebook to hit, Sans grabbed his arm and before he realized they were standing outside of the ICE-E building. Napstablook came out of the wall next to them while Isaac heard a yell of frustration coming from the building.  
"sorry kid, but that guy wouldn't have let ya go until ya would have turned that dummy into a pile of cotton, and that wouldn't be a good idea. the ghost that's secretly living in it wouldn't be happy, ya know?" Napstablook raised his eyebrow.  
"oh?... so that's where dulley went to… i was already wondering where he was…" Sans was about to answer when his phone rang.  
"sans speaking. yes? i see. i'll be there in a minute." Sans hung up and turned around.  
"sorry kid, but you'll have to find your way on your own. i have to do some things not for human eyes." Sans walked towards the wall behind him, but turned around towards them one more time.  
"oh, and beware of undyne." Before Isaac could ask who Undyne was, Sans was gone, even though there was no doorway in sight where he disappeared.  
He suddenly noticed something in the corner of his eye. On the roof of one of the nearby buildings stood a hooded figure covered in shadows. All Isaac could see of their face was a single yellow glowing eye. The figure lifted up their arm without saying a single word, and a blue glowing spear appeared in their hand. For some reason, the glow seemed to not illuminate the figure's face.  
Before Isaac realized, this spear had planted itself in the ground, mere centimeters away from his feet. Isaac did not hesitate for a moment and ran as quickly as he could into an empty building. Through the window, he saw the figure clenching their fist, before they jumped out of his sight. Isaac realized he was shivering. Was this the Undyne person Sans was talking about?


	4. Puzzles and Pain

Isaac left his hiding spot, looking around if the figure was still somewhere nearby. Napstablook was floating near the spear, which had planted itself quite deep into the ground, having left cracks all around it. The ghost was shivering. "so much force…"   
Isaac started shivering too. Undyne, or whoever it was who had attacked them, really was not messing around."I believe we should proceed, before she comes back to finish the job", he told Napstablook after they both pulled themself together. The ghost silently nodded. They followed a cracked road, the only path not completely covered in rubble. After a few minutes of walking, this path too became untraversable, but a cardboard sign pointed towards a building. They entered it.  
The interior was dark, and Isaac searched for the light switch. As the lights turned on, they revealed a locked door, with 4 numbers written on the wall around it, and 4 large buttons sitting in the center of the room. From top left to bottom right, the numbers read "4 1 3 2". Napstablook floated towards the buttons. "this seems to be a puzzle…" The ghost suddenly saw something. "hey… there are small numbers on these switches…" Isaac walked over and took a look as well. And indeed, very small numbers were carved into the top, the same numbers as on the wall, just in a different order. Isaac took a glimpse at the numbers, and then pressed the button with 4, following it up with 1, 3 and at last, 2. The door opened with a loud "Clang!", revealing an elevator. All floor buttons were broken off besides one, the shine of which heavily contrasted with the rusty cabin. He looked at the button curiously. He wondered how this button was able to be in such a good shape, when the rest of the elevator was rusting away. However, speculating would not help him proceed further, so he pressed the button, and the elevator ascended.  
The elevator halted at a hallway, with doors on both sides of it. He attempted to open one of them, but it did not budge. As he opened the next one, he smelled a lot of mold, before something that looked like jelly wiggled out of the room. Isaac leaned a little closer to investigate the specimen, and poked his finger in it. The creature felt sticky, and as he removed his finger, he took a little bit of mold-jelly with him. However, it didn't seem to mind, wiggling around as if nothing happened. "Do you know what sort of creature this is?", he asked Napstablook.  
"oh… that's a moldsmal, i think… i'm not sure though… i'm probably wrong…" Napstablook vanished a little and floated backwards. The Moldsmal wiggled a little, and small blobs of mold-jelly rose up into the air. Suddenly, they flew at Isaac, exploding into smaller blobs in his chest and next to him. The boy collapsed in pain, clenching his chest, and Napstablook became even more transparent, shaking. Shakily, he looked at it to inspect the damage as the Moldsmal stopped its attack, but there was none, no blood at all. Only the stinging pain in his chest where the attack hit. He ran, trying to open each door in the hallway until he found one that budged. He gasped for air as he sat down on a couch that looked like it could fall apart at any moment to catch some breath, let the pain ease a little and comprehend what happened. Not long after, Napstablook floated inside and started lying in the corner.  
"heya." The voice came from right behind him, and Isaac jumped up in surprise. He turned around with his book in a position ready to attack, and stood face to face with the grinning face of Sans. "whoa, easy kid", he said. "ya seem pretty riled up about something."  
Isaac looked at Sans, a slightly aggravated look on his face. "You didn't inform me that gelatine shoots explosives here!" He clings to his chest. "Yet somehow there is no trace of physical harm. How- What was that?!"  
"right, i knew i forgot to tell ya something. that was a magic attack, monsters like to use em. next time, try to dodge em, ok? lesson over." He winked. Isaac just stared at him, flabbergasted. Sans noticed the look on his face, then sighed. As the skeleton raised his hand, Isaac felt as if something was pulling at his chest, and suddenly, a very pale green soul, bordering on grey, phased through it. He shivered. Sans started speaking. "that's your soul. it makes you who you are, it keeps ya running. and it's the thing monsters need most, unfortunately, so some of them will try to get it." He pushed it back into Isaac's chest, and handed him a half-eaten hotdog -or a water sausage, upon closer inspection- drooping with ketchup. "here kiddo, this is magic food, it'll heal up your soul. eat up."  
Isaac shivered a little. That water-sausage-hotdog didn't seem very appetizing, or nutritious, even with the ketchup. He swallowed, and slowly took a bite. It was… Not very tasty, but a warm feeling in his chest made him continue eating. When he finished the very last bite, Sans stood up. "well, there's a puzzle right round the corner made by yours truly, so we better get going." Isaac followed.


End file.
